The Other Side
by Hawki
Summary: Oneshot: It is the nature of all mortals to fear death. To wonder what comes after it, and if necessary, invent fables to provide an explanation. Jin She wanted more however. She wanted to know the truth. No matter how terrifying that truth might be...


**The Other Side**

Jin She imagined that death would be cold.

It was funny how so often how the people of the other planes referred to Hell (or Sheol) as a place of fire and brimstone. She'd seen Hell with her own eyes, and that was the icy side of Tempra. A cold, frigid wasteland bereft of almost any life, kept in check only by the spirit of Ahasna. Fire was life. Ice was death. And while she hadn't died permanently, and had no intention of doing so, the Trials of Strife operated in such a way that 'death' was something that occurred quite frequently. A system so that one side could gain an advantage over the other in the event of a champion being felled. She had fallen in the arena. Even to that lout Ace, whose existence served as a reminder as to why she should never visit the west of Tempra. And every time she died, she saw…nothing.

She kept rowing across the marsh located next to the arena. Death was cold, she told herself. Or death was nothing. Complete and utter oblivion. And with the arrival of the trials' newest member, she found that she could not help but seek him out. Zaku, a witch doctor of the Bayu of Lyrie. A weird sort who resided in a hut in the marsh rather than the barracks as so many other champions did. Jin She herself preferred solitude as well – the light of Ahasna was the only companion she needed. But even so, to be stuck in a swamp…

She got off the boat, wrinkling her nose at the smell. Zaku had constructed a small wharf that led to his hut. Gripping her whips, she began walking.

"Greetings."

And gripped them even tighter as Zaku appeared before her. Not in a flash of light or anything, just…appeared. Phasing into the plane of Strife.

"You seek solace."

"I seek information," Jin She murmured. "You may have that information."

"Indeed." Zaku leant forward, still supporting himself on his cane. "And what information would that be?"

"Information on…" She swallowed. "The other side."

Zaku laughed softly. Yet it echoed throughout the swamp.

"The other side," he said "I suppose that is what some call what lies beyond the veil of the planes, and the next world."

"And what would you call it?" Jin She asked.

The witch doctor didn't answer.

"They say you brought a boy back from the dead," the warrior continued. "Not cured him, actually resurrected him. They say you know what lies after death."

"They…" The witch doctor sighed. "Who is 'they,' daughter of Ahasna?"

"People," she said, not in the mood for semantics. "Just tell me the truth. What lies beyond?"

Zaku looked wary. It was hard to tell behind the mask he wore, but Jin She felt something off about him. Up until now he had treated her with quiet humour. Now, he was still being quiet, but the humour was gone.

"What lies beyond," the witch doctor whispered. "Few would seek to know."

"I am Jin She of the Tao Ahasna. I am not 'a few.'"

"Well I may tell you," Zaku said. "But only if you explain why you wish to know."

"Why does that matter?"

"Who does the information you seek matter?"

Jin She gripped her fire whips. _I could take him_, she told herself. _Strangle him. Drown him. Make him talk. I…_She loosened the grip. "I will speak."

She didn't. Not immediately at least.

"I have died," the warrior began. "In the arena. I have come back, as all who participate do."

"As have I," Zaku said.

"And every time I die I see…nothing." She swallowed, as she tried to keep her mind clear. "I have always associated death with the cold. I have seen Tempra as the embodiment of death. But…what if I'm wrong? What if it's something else?" She stepped forward, and bowed before Zaku. "I need to know, witch doctor. One day, I will fight the Dharkwave. One day, I may die, and not come back. I must know what that means if I am to confront it."

Zaku remained where he was.

"You may tell me, or not," she said. "But I nonetheless seek it. What is 'the other side,' Zaku? What is death?"

"Nothing."

She looked up at him.

"Nothing."

"I don't understand."

"You do not understand my answer?"

"You haven't given me an answer!" She rose to her feet, her eyes ablaze. "If you think-"

"Nothing," the witch doctor said. "Death is nothing. Death is the end. They call death 'the other side,' but it is no side at all. Death is oblivion."

Jin She's lip trembled. "But…you said…you called death the next world…"

"It is a world of its own. A world of nothing. Death is the end." The witch doctor chuckled. "Every fire must go out. But ice must move in time as well."

Jin She just stood there. Nothing…he had brought a boy back from nothing…he…she…

"Someday, you will die," Zaku said. "Perhaps in battle, perhaps when your flame goes out, perhaps when Creation itself has fallen apart. But I am sorry – death is the end. It is not a beginning. We lie to ourselves, make stories of what supposedly lies beyond, but I am a witch doctor. I must face the truth, to shield others from it."

Jin She stood there. Her fire gone. Her spirit dead. Her body felt like a rotting piece of meat. Counting down to oblivion.

"Farewell, Jin She," Zaku said. She glanced at him, seeing the witch doctor slowly fade from her sight. "May your flame shine bright while it lasts."

And she stood there. As he faded. As the sounds and smells of the swamp returned. As time, and life, and death marched on. All to the end. All towards nothing.

She stood there for a long time.


End file.
